First lady Michelle Obama acknowledged Thursday that the children of White House workers pay a price for all their parents do to help the president.

“We know how much you guys sacrifice because your parents work here,” Obama said. “You know, for many of you, I know it’s hard when your mom and dad [say:] ‘You know, I’m going to miss dinner tonight because I have to work late,’ or ‘There’s a meeting on Saturday, so I’ll miss your game,’ or ‘I have to travel next week, and I might not be able to get to that recital.’

“Our kids go through it,” she added, “and it’s not a lot of fun.”

On Thursday, Obama tried to bring a little of the fun back by hosting about 150 children of White House staffers at the annual Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day…read more…

Yesterday was a whirlwind. After waking up at 5:30 a.m., I spent 18 hours total in Wards 7 and 8 (east of the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C.) and in the downtown Washington Post office reporting on the mayoral Democratic primary.

Below are links to articles and tweets that contain my writing, reporting or photos from April 1. I’ve pulled out and quoted (what I think is) the most interesting stuff, and you can find more at washingtonpost.com or at my Twitter account:

THEARC has special meaning to the mayor, since it’s part of what he sees as successful development in Ward 8. ”It’s a phenomenal addition to this area of Southeast,” Gray said Tuesday when he swung by the recreation and arts center shortly before noon. While “the turnout has not been great,” he said, those who showed up were “energized.”

Andy Shallal stands out in a crowd. In the parking lot of Benning Public Library in Ward 7, the restaurateur and mayoral candidate towers over volunteers for Mayor Vincent C. Gray and D.C. Council member Muriel Bowser.

Shallal walks laps between the polling place doors to pick up handicapped access signage and the bed of his campaign’s pickup truck to grab a slice of pizza. In between, he greets voters with a handshake (and once, a long, quiet embrace of a somber voter.)

“It’s not a heavy turnout,” Shallal said in an interview. “Everybody’s precious.”

Hezekiah Smalls, 23, volunteered for 15 hours of Election Day but spent none of that time voting. “I don’t think it was important enough,” Smalls said.

Though he considers his time at the Benning Public Library running the ballot boxes a “service to the community,” he said he prefers to vote only in presidential elections, where, he said, the outcomes have a bigger impact.

Some of this reporting makes an appearance in the print edition depending on the edition. Given the late results release by the D.C. Board of Elections, The Washington Post’s print edition carried the mayoral race on A1 in every edition Tuesday night, but in different ways depending on the news available at the time.

The College Park City Council voted this week to allow 18-yearolds to run for public office, opening up the opportunity for students at the University of Maryland to seek council seats or the mayor’s office. Under the new rules, adopted in a 5 to 3…read more…

A few weeks ago I went to a Costa Rican presidential debate in San José. When I got back to the states, I wrote, recorded and edited my first international piece and my first piece for Latin Pulse I’ve done in months. It’s also the first time leading the weekly news program.

I also snagged a couple of photos of the candidates present.

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This is an important report for me. Majoring in international studies was my way of preparing me for a life of international politics reporting. I’ve also invested myself in radio reporting with work at Latin Pulse as well as PBS MediaShift. The fact that this piece exemplifies both is particularly significant in my professional development.

American U. evacuated all on- and off-campus buildings for a short period of time following a 5.9 magnitude that rocked the eastern United States Tuesday.

No one on campus was injured in the earthquake and there was no apparent damage to any AU buildings, according to emails from the University.

The earthquake, centered in Mineral, Va., started around 1:51 p.m. and lasted less than a minute.

Do you know where these stories eventually appeared? Because I don’t. UWire asks its clients, of which The Eagle is one, to publish the story in print, not online, to retain the value of the original publisher’s post.

If you saw these stories in print anywhere other than The Eagle, please let me know and comment on this post.

See 1:44 of this week’s edition of “Latin Pulse” for my story on new research out of the Brookings Institution and the implications for Latin American foreign policy.

Also, I was on C-SPAN!

The author, featured in a screen capture of C-SPAN coverage of a Brookings Institution event called, “The Politics of Marijuana Legalization.” To the author’s left, John Walsh of the Washington Office on Latin America.